Event Report: Oracle Open World APAC - Shanghai, China

(Copyrighted 2007. Photo by R Wang. All rights reserved)

ORACLE OPEN WORLD SHANGHAI DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF THE ORACLE BRAND
As some of you know, I recently came back from Oracle's Open World Shanghai (July 30th to August 2nd). With 8,000 people at Oracle Open World, and about 1000 there for apps, you could really see the momentum taking off. Of the 60 partners, it was great to have been able to talk to about 25 partners in my broken Chinese.

Here are a few quick observations from the event:

• Oracle's presence in China for 18 years gives them a significant advantage. Initially based on the database successes, Oracle builds on solid networks and relationships required for sales success in China. During that time, Oracle has grown to more than 1500 employees, across 13 branch offices, and 16 representative offices throughout China. Customer counts number over 7,000 and the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) in China exceeds 245,000 members. In addition, Oracle works closely with over 800 partners.
  
• Attendees very interested in Fusion Middleware and applications. Conversations with attendees revealed significant interest among partners to gain certification for apps implementation. Customers expressed bullishness on Oracle's future as well as its acquisition strategy.
• Guo Wei, President of Digital China gave the most inspiring presentation. Despite the fact it was delivered in Mandarin and this poor analyst forgot to get the translator headset, Mr. Wei proved to be a visionary. His descriptions of the very fragmented Chinese customer and market showed a deep knowledge of where the future Chinese enterprise apps market. More importantly, he went into detail on the role of the software industry in promoting and reinforcing sustainable development and supporting China's future growth path.
  
• The Oracle brand remains larger than life. Throughout Asia, the media blesses the tech gods and assign a rock star status to the companies that symbolize progress and technological prowess. Respect for Oracle's brand remains high in China, allowing Oracle to attract top university graduates, key partners, and receive significant media coverage.
  

CONVERSATIONS WITH KEY EXECUTIVES SHOW EXTENSIVE COMMITMENT TO PARTNERS IN APAC
Necessity drives innovation in APAC. Oracle's partnership strategies provide the right balance of synergies in product development, go-to-market strategies, and ecosystem support needed to win. Conversations with Mark Gibbs, SVP for APAC app sales; and Bronwyn Hastings, APAC VP Channels and Alliance highlighted the following:

• Clear solution strategies forge tighter partnerships. Oracle's extensive whitespace maps for solutions and industries across geographies tremendously help partners identify opportunities for investment. They also provide insight as to what areas Oracle is willing to cooperate on versus acquire and build.
• Partners demonstrate significant partnership maturity. Partners compete directly and work cooperatively in delivering customer solutions. Many of Oracle's largest partners build their own packaged application software for the SMB market but resell Oracle and competitor software for the enterprise market. Partners like NeuSoft, Digital China, and Hand devote significant resources to Oracle. In fact, one Certified Advantage Partner, Hand focuses 700 people on 300 customers for Oracle EBS implementations.
  
• Technology focused partners provide future base of apps partners . Due to Oracle's heritage, most partners deliver on database and tools capabilities. However, this base will work to Oracle's advantage as the same skill sets for DB and Middleware translate well to enterprise applications. By harnessing this network, Oracle retains a significant advantage among competitors.
  

(The personal contents in this blog do not reflect the opinions, ideas, thoughts, points of view, and any other potential attribution of my current, past, or future employers.)
Copyrighted 2007 by R Wang. All rights reserved